15 violent hours

Police move from one crime scene to the next and residents' nerves become frayed after 2 homicides and a suspicious death in Stockton

STOCKTON - Authorities are investigating separate homicides on opposite sides of the city and the discovery of a dead woman in a senior community in which foul play is suspected.

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By Jordan Guinn

recordnet.com

By Jordan Guinn

Posted Aug. 11, 2012 at 12:01 AM

By Jordan Guinn
Posted Aug. 11, 2012 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

STOCKTON - Authorities are investigating separate homicides on opposite sides of the city and the discovery of a dead woman in a senior community in which foul play is suspected.

The trio of unconnected investigations began during a 15-hour window that started Thursday evening and ended Friday afternoon.

No suspects have been identified in any of the incidents, but police believe one of the killings is gang-related.

The outpouring of violence across Stockton left some residents feeling concerned for their personal safety and any ability to put a stop to it.

"It seems like every morning you wake up and read about someone else being killed," said a middle-age man who lives near the area where a young man was killed Friday afternoon. He spoke on the condition his name would not be used because he fears retribution.

"Nobody stands up; they are afraid something will happen to them or their family if they speak up," he said. "You fear for your safety and your kids' safety."

It all started a little after 11 p.m. Thursday, when Stockton police officers responded to Thornton and Davis roads on a report of a woman shot. The victim, identified by police as Donna Carr, 46, was in the passenger seat of a car being driven by a man at the time of the attack. Detectives learned the pair were driving near Kennedy Elementary School at Ponce De Leon Avenue and Santa Paula Way when they were fired upon by at least one person among a group of people standing on the corner.

The driver took the woman to a convenience store parking lot and called for help. An ambulance drove Carr to a hospital, where she died of her injuries.

The Police Department has not released any information about potential suspects or identified a motive in the case.

About 10:40 a.m. Friday, homicide detectives were called to an apartment complex for active seniors in the 5000 block of Virtue Arc Drive after emergency crews found the body of a woman in her 50s, said Officer Joe Silva, a spokesman for the Stockton Police Department.

The call first came in as a complaint of an odor from the second-story unit, Silva said, but it was quickly determined the woman recently died under suspicious circumstances.

Foul play factored into the woman's death, he said, but the coroner will ultimately determine if she is a homicide victim.

An autopsy is tentatively scheduled for next week, and the California Department of Justice is taking part in the investigation. Evidence technicians from the state agency helped process the scene with detectives Friday.

Police would not speculate on how long the woman had been dead or if she had been the victim of a robbery.

One of the victim's neighbors said she saw her from time to time but didn't know her well. It's unclear how long she resided at the complex. Her identity is being withheld until authorities can notify her relatives.

While investigators sifted through the active crime scene west of San Joaquin Delta College, a man in his early 20s was shot several times about 2:30 p.m. and died in a driveway in the 1500 block of South Stanislaus Street.

Authorities are investigating the homicide as potentially gang related.

Multiple shell casings were found by investigators in the grass and on the pavement near the man's body.

Relatives put their arms around one another as they sat on a curb inside the crime scene tape barrier.

People around the scene said they heard gunshots but didn't see any cars speeding away or suspicious activity.

A surveillance camera is posted on the roof of a home near where the man was killed, but it's unclear if the camera is operational or was recording at the time of the attack.

Carr's death and the killing of the young man on South Stanislaus Street are the 41st and 42nd slayings the Stockton Police Department has investigated in 2012.